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Troops Still Insensitive to Religion of Peace

There's obviously no limit to the depths of depravity the U.S. military will sink in order to kill the enemy while saving their own skins. According to Australian newspapers, sadistic U.S. soldiers were spotted burning the bodies of Taliban freedom fighters in a twisted ploy to lure their comrades out of hiding.

It's all one big joke to the right-wing chickenhawks, but to the Muslim people the mutilation of the dead is considered a vile form of desecration fit only for civilian contractors and Jews. In accordance with Islamic law, the deceased must be ritually bathed and buried facing Mecca, or they will be reincarnated as 7-ll clerks with hairy foreheads and bad dispositions.

After the infamous genital-mocking incidents at Abu Ghraib prison, and the rampant Quran-mishandling atrocities at Gitmo, one would think that the U.S. military would be a little more careful not to offend radical muslim clerics and Democrat senators. While human decency requires that we mock and ridicule barbaric Christian traditions like monogamy and pre-marital abstinence, Islam is a rich tapestry of religious customs that must be respected and preserved. It's not too much to ask that troops take a little time out from their oh-so-busy schedule to sponge-bathe the bodies of those they've viciously slaughtered, bury them facing Mecca, and then dance around the sacred yak while a licensed union imam screeches like a wounded hyena through a ceremonial bullhorn. If soldiers would simply educate themselves about the Religion of Peace, then perhaps they'll come to respect other Muslim traditions as well - such as flying planes into buildings and sawing the heads off infidels.

This is the same crap we pulled in the Crusades, and those wounds still seep blood in the hearts of Progressyves and the faithful who observe the Religion of Peace. I mourn for those who would've sawed my head off with a dull butter knife. The ending of their rampages was not done in my name.

I the words of the great progressyve Donald Sutherland: how dare we...

How on the Great Goddess' good green globe did the heinous Jack Bauer, who spends his time attacking Islamic freedom fighters brave enough to take the fight to American soil, come from his seed? Donald followed the progressyve child raising philosophy of not actually raising your children, didn't he?

Seems to me you're just saying the tradition of cleaning the body is stupid. What seems stupid to me is burning the bodies. It smells of hiding evidence. Is this routine military practice? Why didn't the soldiers just leave the bodies for people more versed in the culture to clean? What would U.S. Americans say if the same groups were doing battle on U.S. soil and the Taliban burned the bodies of the soldiers it killed?

Seems to me you're just saying the tradition of cleaning the body is stupid. What seems stupid to me is burning the bodies. It smells of hiding evidence. Is this routine military practice? Why didn't the soldiers just leave the bodies for people more versed in the culture to clean? What would U.S. Americans say if the same groups were doing battle on U.S. soil and the Taliban burned the bodies of the soldiers it killed?

Here is a long excerpt from an article on the incident:

US soldiers in Afghanistan burnt the bodies of dead Taliban and taunted their opponents about the corpses, in an act deeply offensive to Muslims and in breach of the Geneva conventions.

An investigation by SBS's Dateline program, to be aired tonight, filmed the burning of the bodies.

It also filmed a US Army psychological operations unit broadcasting a message boasting of the burnt corpses into a village believed to be harbouring Taliban.

According to an SBS translation of the message, delivered in the local language, the soldiers accused Taliban fighters near Kandahar of being "cowardly dogs". "You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burnt. You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be," the message reportedly said.

"You attack and run away like women. You call yourself Taliban but you are a disgrace to the Muslim religion, and you bring shame upon your family. Come and fight like men instead of the cowardly dogs you are."

(Tom Allard, Published on Wednesday, October 19, 2005 by the Sydney Morning Herald / Australia )

1. Impulse (For Each Motor) = Force from Spring Scale (N) / Average Burn Time (s)
= _____N.s.
Force must be measured in Newtons, may have to convert from kilograms to newtons.
Average Burn Time is the average of Initial Impulse and Sustained Impulse per motor.

2. Force (Rocket Thrust) = F_T = Average Impulse (N.s.) / Average Burn Time (s)
Average Impulse is the average of all impulses for that type of motor.
Average Burn Time is the average of all Initial Impulses and Sustained Impulses obtained for that specific type of motor.

6. Drag Formula = D = CDO A 1/2 PV^2
Drag increases as the square of the velocity increases.
CDO is the Aerodynamic Drag Coefficient determined by shape and surface smoothness.
'A' is the cross sectional Area of an aerodynamic shape, to include nose cone, body tube,
tail section, launch lugs, and tail fins.
'P' is the density of air, greek symbol Rho.
V^2 is the Velocity Squared.

Dear Black Widow;
We are always striving to be sensitive to the Religion of Peace. As the article noted, in a somewhat tongue in cheek way, burning is done for hygiene reasons. The bodies could have been contaminated with disease, or
partially decomposed. Not only that, if the local village had not properly taken care of them as per religious custom, there might have been a reason their own people didn't touch them. Remember, the bodies were burned allegedly in sight of a taliban stronghold, so why the taliban didn't see to it is something that should be asked.

Also, you are forgetting that 18 months ago, the Fallujah chapter of Al qaeda International, a Wahhabist sect of the Religion of Peace burned and mutilated four US contractors.

1. The Geneva Conventions apply to treatment of all human beings (including terrorists and prisoners of war).

Here are some quotes from the Convention:

A. Even if they are found to be "unlawful combatants" they still have rights under international humanitarian law – to humane treatment, to a fair trial if charged with a crime, and not to be tortured.

B. …under the Geneva Conventions, it's up to an independent judge to determine the status of the "detainees," not whoever detains them. As well, Canadian regulations on prisoner-of-war status dictate that detainees must be brought before a military tribunal to determine whether they're prisoners of war or not.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/iraq/genevaconventions.html

2. If these Taliban members had been alive, this would have been tantamount to mutilation or torture. Under the Geneva Conventions, it is not up to soldiers to decide the form of punishment inflicted. Soldiers do not get to be judges. They do not get to decide what is adequate punishment for a terrorist. So it is not a matter of the terrorist "deserving" this treatment or not.

3. I am more concerned with the reaction of the entire Muslim community who are now aware that this incident took place. This was not a desecration of the terrorists so much as a descration of the Muslim faith.

I qoute:

"You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burnt. You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be," the message reportedly said.

And so it seems that the soldiers were actually aware of what they were doing.

4. This is related to 1. I have more criticism for rational people who behave in despicable ways than I do for those who are not rational. I do not consider terrorists to be rational. But I do consider the majority of US soldiers to be rational. I am not surprised when a terrorist behaves in such a manner. I am surprised, critical and angry when a soldier (a representative of the US whose role in Afghanistan is funded by my tax dollars) behaves in such a way.

Basically, this is about ethical behavior. The only arguments I have heard so far do not address the root issue. Just because terrorists have done horrible things does not mean that it is okay for soldiers to behave unethically, particularly in a situation in which such behavior serves no purpose but to incite animosity. And I mean animosity not only from terrorists but from law-abiding Muslims toward not only soliders but all US Americans.

P.S. To brainsample: As I said, this is about behaving ethically. No rational person believes stoning homosexual people is ethical. There are bad and good things in nearly every religion and culture. For example, the Catholic Church still discriminates against homosexuals and yet it seems to have many clergymen who are somewhat less discriminate...

In the past, many Protestant churches in the southern states sanctioned and promoted slavery. They even used Christianity to justify its existence. This just goes to show that religion can be manipulated to suit selfish ends. It should surprise no one that some Muslims use religion to attain and maintain their power. We have our own example at home.

What we don't need to do at this point is draw any conclusions, especially from unverified newspaper reports. It's not like there haven't been wrong ones before.

And no BW, that is not SOP, but on the other hand, until the investigation is concluded, we won't really know what happened, or why. Which is why it is called an "investigation". A process, during which questions are asked of witnesses and answers are learned.

And in the meantime, responsible people hopefully will withhold judgment.

Or not, I suppose, as their natures dictate.

And then we have the press, whose idea of responsible reporting goes something like this;

That last "example" should have been plural. I don't buy into the blame everything on one person crap. And neither, I think, do most liberals. I think that's the strange thing about this site. I find some of it humorous, but it's such a polarized and warped representation of both sides. Well, the aspects of those sides with which I am familiar. And by hiding it all in satire, many of you are allowed to give vent to your bigotry and hypocrisy in ways that you usually could not in an honest and serious debate. Really educational...